Skirv and his License

Alright, let's start with the main shocker: I am 25, and I do not have my driver's license.

Many people find this to be a complete shock. I've never been entirely clear why; after all, this fact has been announced on my web page for years, perhaps not prominently but it's at least as obvious as my penchant (or lack thereof) for chocolate. But I guess it's okay to not like something, but not to not really desire to drive...

There is a story behind it, though.

When I was a Junior at Uni High, I, like everyone else, had to take Driver's Ed. As with all students, I considered this a chore more than anything, though getting a learner's permit was more of a reward than most everything else at the time so it wasn't a complete wash. The real problem was that there was a new teacher - historically, the class had been taught by Coach Scott, the most popular of the PE teachers. He had left at the end of the previous year, however, and was replaced by Coach Driskell [1]. While I admit to never meeting Coach Scott and therefore being unable to judge him, I have little doubt he was better than Driskell.

I got through the first half of the class, the written part, just fine, and got my white slip without difficulty. The second half was the driving section. At this...well, it wasn't that it was a bad driver, it's that I didn't get along with Driskell. Most flagrantly, when I was in the back watching someone else drive, I would offer friendly advice about the area - advice like "don't turn left here, it's one-way". While this would normally be considered presumptuious, in my case it was self-preservation, as Driskell had just told the driver to turn left. He said this was part of the learning process. I just didn't want to die.

So began our fighting.

It never really got *that* bad, because I essentially avoided him whenever possible. The real problem was that by avoiding him, I was never able to get my blue slip - which was necessary to actually go get my license. To talk to him would be to offer him some satisfaction... And so I instead had him come up to me in PE and other times and try to talk me into stopping by the office to get it. I never did. And so I got my blue slip, as I recall, in the mail well after the end of the school year - by which time I'd forgotten everything about driving anyway.

I missed my window for an annoying bastard. I should really know better.

I will admit that not getting my license was a pain in the butt lots of times. My friends have tried to talk me into getting the license many times through the years, without much luck; I'm not sure if it was a mental block or what, but I didn't do it. I did consider getting my license once: when the job my sophomore year (working for USA-CERL in Nevada) required it. I didn't get it then, though, and I didn't really miss it much. Other than that, I've had two groups essentially offer me a free car if I'd just learn on it...

But... well, I'm learning now. And I'll probably have my license soon. Why? What changed? I'm not entirely clear...but it started because I finally saw that I would do good driving upstate to visit a friend in pain, and I was unable to do so. Guilt is a powerful motivator for me. And paying back ride karma is going to take a while...

[2003/11/10] I got my license about six weeks ago. For the record.

[1] I don't remember Driskell's real last name. I may have the spelling right, I may not. I'm not going to bother looking in my yearbook to find out, either, but I'm also not doing this to "protect the innocent" or anything similar.